In a wonderful CNBC article by Dan Schwabel he pokes at the heart of Gen Zs, the leading edge of whom are just about to graduate from college and knock on your door for employment. You already know that Gen Zs are different from you and that will play out in your shop. Fortunately, because you are a truly enlightened and great leader, you’re fully cognizant of the fact that you aren’t going to be able to change an entire generation of people and get them to think and act like you. And you know that you have to figure out how to deal with these people if success is to come to all.

Oddly enough, it turns out that these people are – get ready for it – people. Human beings. And they want to be treated like human beings.

In the embedded video in Schwabel’s piece he reports on the results of a Monster.com survey, showing that the top 3 things Gen Zs want from their first job are:

Health insurance

A competitive salary

A boss they respect

Who’da thunk it?

That Monster.com survey also told us that 76% of Gen Zs want their work to have meaning. Any surprise there? I mean, let’s see a show of hands of everyone who wants to do meaningless work.

Gen Zs see themselves as the owners of their careers and half of them want to have their own business. You can read that as meaning that they are entrepreneurial. As their leader, you can influence them to deliver their A-Game just by creating an entrepreneurial culture in your shop, which will have the added benefit of appealing to pretty much everyone else, too. And that meaningful work piece – make sure your people see how they contribute to something worthwhile.

The entire point is that the important things to these folks are so very human.

Your people are not your greatest asset. Your building, your brand value, the quality of your products and services – those are assets. Your people are the heart of your business. Great leaders know that and always remember that those who look to them for leadership are people first. And that’s why Fully Alive Leadership Practice #1 is: Manage things; lead people.

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